The present invention relates to cultivating implements and more particularly to an implement adapted for both general purpose broadcast and precision row crop cultivation.
A number of field implements are commonly employed in preparation of fields for planting and in cultivating row crops. Plows, discs and harrows are commonly used in field and seed bed preparation but are generally not suitable for cultivation after a row crop has been planted. Some types of chisel plows or harrows employ plow shanks or points similar to those used on row crop cultivators but the implements do not provide sufficient flexibility in spacing of plow shanks or in control of plowing depth to allow use of such implements for row crop cultivation. As a result, the row crop farmer is generally required to purchase two separate implements for the initial seed bed preparation and the row crop cultivation. That is, in final seed bed preparation, an implement having evenly spaced plow shanks and possibly including a harrow is generally used for final smoothing and pulverizing of the field surface. For row crop cultivation, the plow shank spacing must be arranged to conform to the row width which is commonly twenty-eight, thirty-eight or forty inches. A number of plow shanks, generally five, are desirably positioned between each crop row with a sufficient gap provided to avoid damage to the crop.
Broadcast cultivators of the type having flexible wings are known. Such cultivators generally have a central section of a width which may be transported on public roadways and which can pass through normal gate openings. Wings are generally hingedly connected to the central section so that they may be raised to an upright position for transportation or lowered to a horizontal position for use of the implement in the field. Such implements generally are provided with a hitch on the central section for connection to a conventional tractor three point hitch and with gauge wheels carried on the ends of the wings. Plowing or cultivation depth of the central section is controlled by the tractor operator's selection of hitch position. Depth of the wings is controlled by a combination of the gauge wheel position and the position of the central section. Such arrangements are generally suitable for the open field or broadcast type seed bed preparation but do not provide the precise depth control required when cultivating row crops. Thus, even if the plow shanks on such a device could be arranged in an appropriate pattern for row crop cultivation, the lack of depth control would make such a device unsuitable for such use.
Thus, it is seen that it is desirable to provide a single implement adaptable for efficient use as both an open field broadcast cultivator and a precision row crop cultivator.